News

New TFCinfo Report Analyses Projector Brand Strength Among Competitors (13/1/2005)

TFCinfo, the worldwide leader in AV market research and consulting, has just completed its heralded yearly benchmark study on the strength of brands for multimedia projectors in North America. The TFCinfo Projector Brand Strength Study 2005 Report analyzes all aspects of projector brand strength broken out by all major market user segments - Large Corporations, Small-and-Medium-sized Businesses, Small Office and Home Users, Government, and Education. This comprehensive report covers all 33 major projector brands used for business and entertainment.

This report analyzes:

á Unaided Brand Awareness á Aided Brand Awareness á What do Customers think of when they think of your Brand? á Brands Used á Brand Consideration Set (Is your brand among a select group of brands considered first?) á Superior Brands (Is your brand always considered?) á Inferior Brands (Is your brand a brand that is never considered?) á Buying Criteria á Importance Rating of Buying Criteria á Brand Affinity (How strong is your brand strength on key purchasing attributes?) á Brand Associations (What type of projector use is your brand most associated with?) á Projector Purchasing (Where are consumers buying most, who are the gatekeepers of purchase, does your brand measure up on the most important purchasing factors?)

In addition, the report covers key strategic brand challenges for each major projector brand, and further analyzes brand affinity and affinity importance ratings for 18 of the industry's key strategic brands.

"This report is the only study to track and analyze the strategy of Brand in all its facets for the projector industry," says Paul Martin, President of TFCinfo. "The value of this study is compounded by the fact that all the individuals interviewed are experienced users, specifiers and buyers of projectors - it is these people who directly make or influence the purchase decision. Knowing and analyzing each aspect of what these individuals in each of these market segments think of your brand - positive or negative - is the most basic of all strategic marketing needs. Furthermore, this is the only longitudinal brand strength study, and hence the only study that could reveal which brands are slowly and stealthily consolidating their brand positions at the top."

This report is the most widely used survey report in the industry. With this brand analysis report, industry participants can measure their brand strengths and weaknesses for all facets of projector brand management. Participants can see the success or shortcomings of their current branding strategy, as well as the weaknesses in their competitorsâ strategies. Projector companies then can implement new marketing plans to bring their brands to the forefront of the minds of the purchasers that they target.

"Research has shown that if your brand is not at the top of a buyer's initial consideration set, it becomes difficult for your product to be considered during the remainder of the buying process," states Paul Martin. "That is why aided and unaided awareness is one of the most important measures to track in this competitive product category."

Highlights from TFCinfo's Projector Brand Strength Study 2005 Report on aided and unaided awareness are:

InFocus

InFocus continues to be one of the utmost brands in both aided and unaided brand awareness. Furthermore, within each market segment, InFocus consistently leads the competitors and is consolidating its position as the brand leader.

Sony

Sony ranks #2 for all segments surveyed on unaided brand awareness, except in the Large Corporation market segment. Sony also performs well on an aided basis, coming in among the top three for most segments surveyed. Sony's strong consumer brand strength clearly extends to its brand strength in business products such as projectors.

NEC

NEC's strength lies squarely with business-oriented segments: Large Corporations, Small/Medium Businesses, and Small Offices/Home Users. NEC consistently comes in among the top spots on unaided recall and overall brand recognition (aided).

Sharp

Sharp continues its strength on an unaided brand awareness basis, placing among the top five for all end-user segments surveyed.

Some companies choose to divide and conquer individual market segments - an equally viable brand strategy.

Epson

Epson has a stellar performance in the Education sector, where Epson's products offer their customers the most important things they want when buying a projector. To educators, Epson represents quality and reliability, best investment for the most features, as well as other attributes.

Sanyo, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, HP, Dell

Sanyo comes in among the top five brands being considered for purchase among all segments with the exception of Education. Mitsubishi and Panasonic perform particularly well throughout this research in the Education and Government segments.

Also of note, several companies that recently entered the projector market with strong computer associations performed well in their own rights on awareness. HP shows growth in the right direction over previous years, although at a slow and steady pace, while Dell is swiftly making improvements over the previous year's results among projector brands. Dell also performs well on various important affinity attributes, particularly ãcustomer service support,ä where the brand placed among the top 3 for all segments surveyed.

Toshiba, Hitachi and BenQ

Toshiba, Hitachi, and BenQ fared particularly well on brand awareness among individual user segments.

It is obvious that many projector brands can benefit from a strong brand name, yet aided and unaided awareness is only one of the important aspects of a complete brand strength analysis. TFCinfo's Projector Brand Strength Study 2005 analysis report additionally provides insights and analysis in all the other aspects of brand strategy analysis.

www.tfcinfo.com